Filling clamp



y 1942- B. w. BROWN 2,282,304

FILLINGCLAMP Filed March 6, 1941 Patented May 12, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FILLING CLAMP Benjamin W. Brown, Hapeville, Ga.

Application March 6, 1941, Serial No. 382,075

7 Claims.

My invention relates to a filling clamp. of the sort used to clamp the filling against the shuttle box of a loom for tensioning the weft so as to ensure operation of the detector-fork and prevent knocking off if a weft is present.

It is an object of my invention to do away with the need for a filling grid, the use of a grid being undesirable because of the danger that the fingers of the filling-fork may become bent so as to contact with the grid and cause the loom to continue to operate even though the filling has become exhausted or broken, and the further danger that the grid may become jammed with lint which will also hinder passage of the fillingfork fingers through the grid and so permit the loom to continue in operation after the filling has become exhausted or broken.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device which shall operate with certainty and without any shimmy, such as occurs in some of the prior mechanisms that have been devised for clamping the filling. A number of such devices are known which are fastened to a fixed or dead member of the loom and against which devices the shuttle strikes as the lay beats up.

Because of the limited space available such devices can not be made strong and heavy enough to stand up efiectively under the continuous strokes of the lay against the rather delicate attachments.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a weft clamp connected to a member of the loom having forward and backward movement at varying speed whereby the movement of the clamp can be so coordinated with the movements of the lay as to avoid any sudden shocks upon the clamp mechanism. In the preferred form of my invention a movable clamp is mounted on the snake head or weft hammer so as to ride above all the other working parts and so as to make contact only at the time when the weft'has to be tensioned for preventing operation of the stop mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide a mounted so as to square itself on that face and 55 clamp the filling regardless of the position of the fillin Another object of the invention is to eliminate any chance of loom stoppage due to the rebounding of the shuttle and the consequent slacking of the filling sufiiciently to prevent raising of the filling-fork.

Another object of the invention is to eliminate the danger of injury to the clamp if it happens to strike the shuttle, for which reason the clamp is arranged to be yieldably movable through a large arc.

Other objects are to provide a device which is simple and inexpensive, easily applied either to the left or the right side of the loom without the need of mutilating the loom, which is light in weight, has no parts to work loose and has a minimum of lubrication points, i. e.. two only. It can not catch and loop the filling as it does not come into contact therewith until after the shuttle is home in the box and it moves out of the way before the shuttle is backed out of the box. It holds the filling tight in any position thereof without use of an additional filling guide and it eliminates the excess friction in the shuttle eye needed to operate the filling-fork on looms having a filling grid, as Well as other difficulties rising out of the use of filling grids.

Referring to the drawing, which is made a part of this application, and in which similar reference characters indicate similar parts:

Fig. 1 is a perspective of the portion of the loom with the device of my invention positioned thereon;

Fig. 2, a side elevation of the attachment;

Fig. 3, a perspective of the frame of the clamp; and

Fig. 4, a perspective of the pad held in said frame.

In the drawing, reference character it indicates a part of the lay having at its left end a shuttle box, the back member of which is indicated at [2. There is an open throat at 13 for the operation of the tines of the filling-fork M which is guided by the usual slide l5. A part of the weft hammer or snakehead which reciprocates the slide that carries the fork I4 is shown at It and I have mounted thereon a bracket IT by means of a bolt I8.

The bracket l! is forked at its upper end and the forks are apertured to provide guides for a slide [9, normally held in the forward position indicated by means of a coil spring 20 secured at one end to the forward fork of the bracket while at the other end it is secured to an upwardly extending arm 2| of the slide l9. As shown in the drawing this is provided witha plurality of Openings spaced horizontally and vertically thereof, whereby the tension of the spring 20 can be adjusted, said spring being preferably attached to the arm by passing a part thereof through one of the holes of the rear series. The limit of forward movement of' the slide can be predetermined by adjusting means mounted to bear against the rear arm of the bracket H, such adjusting means being here shown as consisting of an eccentric nut 22 mounted on a bolt 23 by means of which it may be clamped against the slide after being suitably positioned to determine the forward position of the slide relatively to its supporting bracket and to the weft hammer.

At the forward end of the attachment there is a frame 24 pivoted to the slide at 25 and normally held in the inclined position indicated, by

means of a coil spring 26 which is connected at one end to the upper end of the frame, as by means of a notch 2'! and at the other end to one of the front series of holes in the arm 2!.

The frame 28, as shown in Fig. 3, is preferably made of a single strip of material bent to form A two side members 23, 29 spaced from one an other, the side member 28 having an upward extension with notches 21 and the side member 29 having its upper end reduced, as shown at 33,

and bent laterally behind the reduced upward extension of the side member 28. When the parts are assembled the slide I9 is placed between said members, a rivet 25 is passed through the holes at 3| and through a hole in the slide and the parts are riveted together, the member 39 serving to limit the swing of the frame on the slide. A block 32 of suitable friction material is firmly secured in the clamp, thi block being formed of sponge rubber or other suitable material which will engage the weft upon the detecting beat of the lay and will hold it taut.

In the operation of my device, the shuttle being in the lefthand shuttle box, the lay now beats up toward the front of the loom and the weft hammer also moves forward but more slowly than the movement of the lay, so that it is overtaken by the lay, the filling-fork passing through the open throat between the rear plate 33 and the reed cap 34 of the lay without interference. At the same time the back i 2 of the shuttle box and the lower end of the block 32 approach each other until such lower end contacts with the back i2 of the shuttle box, after which the frame 24 pivots about it support at 25 so that the rear face of the block 32 comes to bear against the rear face of the shuttle box so as to clamp the weft in place regardless of its position on the back plate of the shuttle box. The spring 20 permits the frame and the slide l9 to move to the right relatively to the weft hammer if necessary.

Obviously the tension of the spring 20 and 26 will be adjusted so as to provide only the amount of resistance necessary to the movement of the parts controlled thereby.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the device shown and described in the specification and drawing, all without departing from the spirit of the invention, and therefore I do not limit myself to what is described therein but only to what is set forth in the appended claims.

Having thus fully described my invention what I claim is:

1. In a loom, a lay having a raceway, a thread extending along the raceway, a filling fork slide and fork thereon, an oscillating lever for operating the filling fork slide through the filling fork upon weft failure, and a filling clamp mounted on said lever, said clamp coacting with the rear wall of the raceway to hold said thread taut.

2. In a loom, a lay having a raceway, a thread extending along the raceway, a filling fork slide and fork thereon, an oscillating lever for operating the filling fork slide through the filling fork upon Weft failure, a clamp pivotally supported on said lever, yieldable means normally holding said clamp in inclined position with its lower end nearest to the lay, said clamp coacting with the rear wall of the raceway to hold said thread taut.

3. A device as in claim 1, said rear wall having an open, unobstructed throat to admit the filling fork, and said clamp being pivotally mounted, at an inclination to said rear wall so as to engage said wall first at the lower end of the clamp to insure clamping of said thread.

4. A device as in claim 1, said rear wall having an open, unobstructed throat to admit the filling fork, and said clamp being pivotally mounted at an inclination to said rear wall so as to engage said wall first at the lower end of the clamp to insure clamping of said thread, the mounting for said clamp including a, rod slidably supported on said oscillatory lever for movement toward and from the lay, and resilient means normally moving said rod toward the lay.

5. A device as in claim 1, said rear wall having an open, unobstructed throat to admit the filling fork, and said clamp being pivotally mounted at an inclination to said rear Wall so as to engage said wall first at the lower end of the clamp to insure clamping of said thread, the mounting for said clamp including a rod slidably supported on said oscillatory lever for movement toward and from the lay, resilient means normally moving said rod toward the lay and adjustable means for limiting the movement of said rod toward the lay by said resilient means.

6. A device as in claim 1, said rear wall having an open, unobstructed throat to admit the filling fork, and said clamp being pivotally mounted at an inclination to said rear wall so as to engage said wall first at the lower end of the clamp to insure clamping of said thread, the mounting for said clamp including a rod slidably supported on said oscillatory lever for movement toward and from the lay, resilient means normally moving said rod toward the lay, said clamp being pivotally supported at the front end of said rod with its clamping face below said rod, a coil spring connected at one end to said clamp above its pivot and having its other end fixed with reference to said slidable rod, and means whereby the tension of said coil spring may be adjusted.

7. For use as a filling clamp for a loom, a

BENJAMIN W. BROWN. 

